The African Peoples Congress (APC) has described adoption of APC by the merging opposition parties as their acronym at their national conventions as an exhibition of “illegality, criminality and recklessness”.
A statement by the National Legal Adviser of APC, Barr. Nnadi Kingsley also said its office in Abuja was allegedly almost attacked by political thugs loyal to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) on Saturday after their convention.
The merger opposition parties including the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and a faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) have adopted the All Progressive Congress (APC), which they ratified at their national conventions recently. While ACN held its convention on April 18, the ANPP and CPC had their conventions last Saturday.
The Africa Peoples Congress, which was denied the use of the acronym by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been in a tussle with merging parties over the acronym, APC.
The Political group, Africa Peoples Congress has since gone to court to seek redress over INEC’s refusal to register them with the acronym.
However, the statement by Barr. Nnadi Kingsley read: “We write to alert Nigerians of an orchestrated plot by selfish and desperate politicians under guise of “progressive politicians” otherwise known as the merger group and their agents in INEC derail the democratic process in Nigeria.
“Whereas it is a public knowledge that we the Africa People Congress (APC) a Political Association seeking registration as a Political Party in Nigeria complied with the requirements of the Constitution and Electoral Act for Party registration but was denied registration by INEC.
“We have restored to the provisions of the law especially Section 79 of the Electoral Act which provide for judicial review of INEC decision of non registration of a Political Party. The non registration of our Association is been challenged in Federal high Court Abuja in suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/224/2013 led by a Constitutional lawyer Awa Kalu (SAN) and the court processes properly served on INEC after several attempts by the commission to evade service.
“As law abiding citizens of Nigeria, our Association continues to hope that justice would be dispensed in this matter as we eagerly await the court’s pronouncement on our registration.
“These desperate and undemocratic elements who tagged themselves “progressive politician” have been busy holding conventions and adopting our acronym as their merger acronym and threatening to make this country ungovernable if they are not registered with our acronym – APC.
“The Action Congress of Nigeria {ACN} held their convention few weeks ago and adopted our acronym to the glare of INEC observers and Yesterday (11th of May, 2013).The All Nigerians Peoples Party {ANPP} and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) have also concluded their conventions and adopted our acronym in the presence of INEC observers.
“As we have been alleging that INEC has become a willing tool in the hands of these selfish and lawless individuals, officials of INEC have finally proved that the Commission has merged with the merger group as it can be adduced by the compromising stance of the Commission on the merger group. INEC and the merger group are clearly aware that our acronym is not available for use by any Association or group by virtue of being the subject matter of the pending litigation in court rather they believe that they can intimidate us through the collaborative effort of INEC to frustrate our registration.
“We strongly condemn the illegality, criminality and recklessness exhibited in the conventions of the merger group and adoption of our acronym by them, as this amounts to wanton disregard of the Constitution and Electoral Act.
“We would ordinarily have ignored these politicians and concentrate on prosecuting our case in court, but we are constrained to act based on the historical antecedents of these extremely violent and dangerous politicians with inherent capacity to summon anarchy, and shed innocent blood when things refuse to go their way. A classic example is the massacre that greeted the 2011 general elections as a result of an alleged directive by a particular presidential aspirant who now doubles as a leader of the new “Progressive Politicians” to unleash his supporters if election results do not favour him.
Under the heading ‘FAKE PROGRESSIVES AND FORUM OF POWER HUNTERS’ the statement continued: “We are piqued by the antics of these of fake “Progressive Politicians” and their supporters nationwide especially their instinct to deploy crude politics in furtherance of their quest to make this country a war zone if democracy fails to follow their terms. We must not be deceived by a group of cheap opportunists who are trying to hijack and capitalize on the genuine yearnings of Nigerians for good governance to climb to power and continue with the plundering of our resources.
“A cursory look at the people who make up this group of “Progressive Politicians” would leave no one in doubt as to the calamity that is about to befall this nation of their activities are left unchecked. Aside from the former presidential aspirant we earlier referred to in this statement, an influential member of this group is Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff, the man who presided over Borno state as Governor in 2003, and under whose close watch the Boko Haram militancy was hatched and incubated into full fledged killing machine. Mallam Nasir El rufai is another vocal member of this group. He was a former minister under the PDP administration where he cornered public land and reallocated same to members of his immediate family, he fell out with his former party as a result of the decision to prosecute him for his shady deals.
“Senator Ahmad Sani is another key member of this group, he is a former governor of Zamfara State and the man credited with the introduction of sharia under the current democratic dispensation. He aided the spread of extremism and is notorious for his insatiable lust for underage girls whom he lure into early marriage because of the abject poverty he afflicted the state during his reign. Senator Ahmad Sani’s violent tendency was displayed on a radio program in Kaduna state March 9, 2013 where he threatened violence should INEC refuse to register their ‘progressive party, although he did not inform his listeners that his ‘progressive’ party did not comply with due process and condition precedent to registration with I.N.E.C. he was arrested but later released on bail. Bola Tinubu, Adams Oshiomhole, Tom Ikimi, Rauf Aregbesola and Ogbonnaya Onu are the arrowheads of this group from the southern part of Nigeria where they claim to be in power in some few notable southwest states and their legacies have been massive corruption, inflation of contracts and deduction of local government funds.
“It is also on record, that several calls and threat of violence have been made by leading figures in the merger group in the event that they are not registered, notwithstanding their failure to meet the basic requirement for registration.
“The foregoing does not include the threats of assassination, intimidation and campaign of calumny directed at our members nationwide. Could the threat of resort to violence by these “Progressive Politicians” explain the recent wave of massive unlawful importation of arms and ammunitions into the country?
On the attempt to burn down their national secretariat, the statement said “there was failed plan to attack and burn our national secretariat by perceived thugs and members of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) who was on their way to their convention yesterday (11th May, 2013) if not the pro-active measures taken by the security unit of our Association that nipped the plan in bud, thereby averting what could have led to disturbance to public peace and destruction of lives and properties.
“We therefore urge the security operative to be on alert and curtail the violent tendency of this merger group”
The statement further noted that inflammatory rhetoric, resort to violence and the stuff of irreverent politicking have become the handmaiden of the Nigerian Merging politicians.
“Their supporters are being made to see the forthcoming elections from a dangerous prism of hostility, these dangerous adjuncts to our electoral process and nationhood is ruinous. The Nigerian democratic experiment is still far from being credible, ironically the powers that be appear not to be conscious of this, and this is evident in the conspiracy of silence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the status of our acronym.
“We warn that if urgent steps are not taken to nip the dangerous antics of these politicians in the bud before the 2015 general elections, there would be an implosion with an unimaginable consequence resulting therefrom. A stitch in time saves nine”.